


Nightbeat's Mystery Movie Night

by nichelium



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-04-23 20:54:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4891921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nichelium/pseuds/nichelium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nightbeat asks Rewind to showcase one of his favorite old Cybertronian flicks, but something goes terribly awry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightbeat's Mystery Movie Night

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic and it's not super great and really immature and babyish but i had a fun time writing it so I'm posting it here in the hopes that maybe someone will have a fun time reading it... Edited by myself, so if you spot any typos feel free to point them out. Enjoy!

Tailgate was walking down the Lost Light's corridors, heading to the bar for movie night. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, but today, it got him a number of glances. Cyclonus was following close behind him. The warrior tended to avoid movie night like the plague -- so why did he seem so eager to attend it now?

"The movie's called, uh, you know, I don't actually remember what it's called, but Nightbeat convinced Rewind to play it. Bluestreak didn't really want to watch it, but everyone's getting kind of tired of Earth movies. They're good, but you can only watch earthlings for so long. Unless you’re Swerve, I guess." Tailgate prattled on. Cyclonus nodded as the minibot spoke, occasionally offering a noise of acknowledgment. It had taken a bit of convincing, but Cyclonus had agreed to go with Tailgate to movie night, since the movie being played was from the Cybertronian Golden Age. With the war and all, not many remembered that the Golden Age wasn't just a great time for science and technology, but culture as well. That included, of course, film. A number of great films, and even more not-so-great, transparent Nova Prime propaganda films, came from Cybertron during this time period. Cybertronian cinema had been all but forgotten with the war, but some, at least, remembered it. Nightbeat was apparently one of them.

The pair of mechs arrived at Swerve's to find a bit of a crowd already there. It was nothing like the usual business of the bar, or even the usual business of movie night, for that matter, but it was enough people to put Cyclonus slightly on edge. Of course Swerve, Rewind, and Nightbeat were there, as they were the sponsors of this little event. Bluestreak was there, but he certainly wasn't happy about it, and was sulking behind the bar. The other usual attendees of movie night, Whirl and First Aid, were already seated. Nightbeat seemed to have convinced his long-time friends, Siren and Hosehead, to show up as well. It was definitely an _interesting crowd_ , if not a very big one. 

Rewind ran over to greet the arrivals. "Tailgate! You brought Cyclonus? That's... Cool! You guys can sit wherever. We're gonna start the movie in a little bit."

Tailgate went towards his usual seat directly in front of the screen, but Cyclonus headed towards the back of the room, just barely able to see the screen. Tailgate internally debated for a moment, but went to sit with Cyclonus.

Nightbeat sighed. "We can start the movie up, Rewind. I don't think anyone else is gonna come. Nobody appreciates classic Cybertronian mystery movies anymore." 

Siren blurted out, in his usual fashion, "They're not that great, dude! The culprits are always too obvious! Remember in _The Unknown Processor_ when it was SO obvious that the servo-droid did it?" The statement was far louder than necessary, given the mech's naturally booming voice. 

Hosehead disagreed with him, in his comparative whisper of a tone. "You only think it's obvious because you've seen always them before. Nightbeat showed a bunch of them to you when you were on that stakeout of Thunderwing's lab, remember? Before you rescued me? I know that was what you watched because of how much you raved about the amazing plot twists for for the next, like, quartex." 

"Nope, nope, I'm pretty sure you're thinking of something else. I hate mystery movies. Right, 'Beats?" 

Nightbeat ignored the question and prompted Rewind the start to movie. The little 'bot took center stage to give a bit of an explanation of the film before he started it. "Okay! Upon Nightbeat's request, we're watching a Golden Age Cybertronian mystery movie, _Alike in Dignity_." 

Tailgate noticed Cyclonus's expression change a bit when the title was said. "Have you seen it, Cyclonus?" The warrior only grunted in response, and his face resumed its usual scowl. He must not have, then.

“The film was generally poorly received for a number of reasons, including its sub-par acting, its hackneyed use of popular music, and its anti-classist, for the time, subtext, but gained a bit of a cult following, especially later, among the early decepticons. Like most culture from the time, though, it was all but forgotten. I, personally, think it's fun! Without further ado, let’s watch the movie!” Rewind took his traditional place in the center of the crowd in order to act as the projector. The lights were dimmed, and the characteristic glow of Rewind’s projector filled the screen.

Suddenly, the room went pitch-black. For a moment, the light from the camera was enough, but soon that was extinguished, too. There were a number of screams -- the loudest among them being Siren’s -- until Cyclonus had the good sense to hit the light switch. 

“Where’s the snacks!?” yelled Swerve.

“Where’s _Rewind_?” shouted Tailgate.

Whirl spoke up for the first time since Tailgate and Cyclonus had entered the room. “Cyclonus probably got rid of everything fun. He wants to ruin everything and make us all into stoic warriors.”

“ _Why_ would I want to do that?” Cyclonus glared at him. 

Hosehead chimed in, unaware of the infamous rivalry between the two. “Cyclonus is practically a decepticon. Decepticons hate fun, so he probably just ruined the movie out of spite.”

Cyclonus sighed and went to leave, though he didn’t actually exit the room. “Why don’t you all just have Bluestreak put on another film?”

Bluestreak’s mood was lightened a bit by the statement; was movie night his once again? Before he could speak, though, Siren called out against him: “You did this! You were all pissy about Nightbeat getting to pick the movie, so you sabotaged it, snacks and all!”

First Aid’s quiet “The healthy snacks that I brought are still left…” went unheard. No one cared about healthy snacks.

Bluestreak's annoyance came back in full force, accompanied by a new anger. He shouted at Siren; “I would never do that! I’m a little annoyed that everyone so readily seemed to forget me, but I wouldn’t take advantage of the disappearance of another autobot! It was probably Whirl who sabotaged it. He just messed everything up for the fun of it.”

“HEY! I wo-” Whirl was cut off when Nightbeat loudly cleared his throat. Everyone looked at him, eager to hear what he had to say about this mystery.

“I’ve been examining the evidence. The door was clearly opened, but only for long enough for one small mech to get in or out-- likely Rewind. None of the vents have been opened. My theory is that someone tossed Rewind out of the room in order to stop the movie viewing. Which means the perpetrator is still in the room. All of you… are now suspects.” There were dramatic gasps from a number of mechs. Nightbeat’s optics happened to fall on Whirl. “...Whirl? I’ll question you first. You dislike Cybertronian films in general. You were probably mad about the movie not being an earthling pick. What do you have to say about that?”

“I say I’m as sick of watching the little fleshies squirble around as anyone else. Not that I’d prefer a Cybertronian slagfest, though.”

Nightbeat nodded as he listened. The detective kept a neutral face, seemingly convinced by the helicopter’s words. Whirl _probably_ wouldn’t sabotage movie night just for fun; it was one of the few things he genuinely enjoyed, other than fighting. Without further statement, Nightbeat turned his attention to his friend. “How about you, Hosehead? You’re eager to prove yourself-- did you organize this elaborate scheme in order to then solve the mystery? It would certainly make you look impressive.”

The red mech got more flustered with every one of Nightbeat’s words. He denied the allegation; “N-no! Of course not! Primus, no, I didn’t even think of that at all. I’d never do something like that. You know me.”

“Nightbeat, that sounds more like something you’d do...” All eyes fell on Tailgate as the little mech made his damning accusation. “I mean, you like mysteries, right? Did you set up a mystery movie mystery night…? That would actually be fun if you did.”

Nightbeat patronizingly put his hand on Tailgate’s shoulder. “I WISH I set this up. Though, I’d much rather be the one solving mysteries than coordinating them.” He leaned down to look in to the shorter mech's visor. “What about you? You’ll do anything to appear cool. This movie was from just before you came online. Did you want to stop the movie from being viewed because you feared it would view waste-disposal units unfavourably?” 

Nightbeat’s pointed questions and his intense stare almost got to the minibot -- Tailgate’s optics started to fizz a bit, but he stopped himself. “I woud… I would never wanna stop my friends from having a fun time! I would never do something that mean.”

Cyclonus, who had evidently stayed for the interrogations, swatted Nightbeat’s hand off of the little ‘bot’s shoulder. He added one of his signature glares, just for good measure. The yellow-and-blue mech backed off (it was clear that Nightbeat wasn't taking this very seriously, and he didn’t want to cause any unnecessary strife), but had more questions for Cyclonus. “And you, Cyclonus? You could have had a similar motive. Maybe you didn’t want this movie to paint an unfavorable picture of the Golden Age?”

Cyclonus didn’t visibly react. “I don’t care about that. I was here to watch a film, just like everyone else.” Not wanting to provoke the warrior, Nightbeat changed the object of his interrogations to Siren.

“Siren, you didn’t want to watch the movie at all. Did you stop the viewing?”

Swerve spoke up, having been uncharacteristically quiet through the events of the evening, apparently just enjoying the show (as well as the final remaining snacks, which were the disgustingly healthy refined energon gels that First Aid had brought). “How could he have done _anything_ when he was so busy screaming? How could _anyone_ have done anything with that racket?” Nightbeat's attention was brought to the snacks, and thus, the mech that brought them.

“First Aid? Yo-” before Nightbeat could get out a single question, First Aid confessed.

“Alright, alright, it was me, I tossed the snacks. I’m sick and tired of you guys eating too much and coming to me with aching fuel tanks.” He directed a pointed glare at Swerve. “I didn’t have anything to do with Rewind disappearing, though. Why don’t you, uh, comm him? Just ask where he went.”

Nightbeat looked a little disappointed. He’d thought of that answer early on, but it was just no _fun_. He hadn’t gotten to solve a silly mystery like this in _ages_. He sighed and gave in to the medic’s common sense, and used the ship’s communication system to call Rewind’s quarters.

Chromedome was the one that answered. “Rewind? Yeah, he’s been back for a while now. Said something about Cyclonus not wanting anyone to see the movie?” The attention of the room went to Cyclonus, who might have even looked a little nervous.

Tailgate looked devastated. “Why didn’t you want us to see the movie, Cyclonus?”

The purple mech was more nervous than he had been since before joining the Lost Light. He was more nervous than he had been since before the dead universe. Naturally, he hid it behind a stoic demeanor. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s just watch it.” He conceded and sat down at the back of the crowd. Nightbeat asked Chromedome to send Rewind back to the bar so they could finally begin the movie.

Upon the memory stick’s return, he checked in with Nightbeat, and then went to Cyclonus. “Is it really alright? I mean, I’ll understand if-”

“It’s fine.” The warrior’s arms were crossed, and he seemed eager to get the whole night over with. “Just start the film.”

Rewind reclaimed his usual spot and went ahead with the movie.

Nightbeat’s affection for the movie was a bit difficult to understand. The movie was a thrilling story with suspense, drama, intrigue, and even romance, sure, but it was kind of… bad. The oddly-well-executed mystery element might have been its only saving grace, with novice editing, subpar acting, and terrible, terrible singing really stealing the show. The clichéd romantic subplot was one of the key parts of the movie, involving a waste-disposal unit called Camaro and a high-class warrior named Ciklon.

“Cyclonus, is that… Is that you?”

“Primus, it is! Cyclonus, you should have told us you were such a great actor! Hah!”

“Cyclonus, that’s…”

The warrior sighed, and Rewind took that as his cue to explain. “Nova Prime thought it would be good for Cybertronian patriotism if some of his inner circle put themselves more in the public eye. Cyclonus ended up in a corny movie. It really wasn’t that bad compared to some of the others, actually. You should see Jhiaxus’s reality show.”

Tailgate put his hand on the nearly-dead-from-embarrassment mech sitting next to him. “I kind of like it, Cyclonus! You’re not _that_ bad an actor.” Cyclonus only started at the screen, looking about ready to pass out. Tailgate’s attention returned to the screen, as well, only to see the culmination of the romantic subplot-- a passionate kiss between Cyclonus’s character and Camaro, who was the same frame-mold as Tailgate. Tailgate immediately looked away, his face burning a bright pink.

Whirl was the first to poke fun at the two. “Who knew tall, dark, and horned had a thing for puny garbage ‘bots? Other than everyone.”

Cyclonus’s scowl could pierce through the hull of the ship. Tailgate hid his head in his hands. He, too, was about ready to die of embarrassment. 

“I honestly forgot about that part,” Nightbeat claimed. 

Cyclonus got up and left the bar. He really shouldn’t even have gone to watch the movie, he thought. Tailgate followed suit, out of both his own embarrassment and a desire to comfort Cyclonus.

_That_ was the most eventful movie night there’d been in a _while_.


End file.
